Was the doctor right or wrong about this?

Specialties Geriatric

Published

Specializes in LTC.

I received some lab results about a resident. According to the results she had a uti. I called the doctor but no and answer so I left a message on his cell. On the message I stated my name, facility, reason of call( lab results came in), time. The only thing I left out was the unit and patients name. I understand that I should of told him the unit but I didn't understand why he yelled at me for leaving off the patients name. I was always taught to never leave a patients name on voicemail due to hipaa.

My DON said I was right but she also saw where the doctor was coming from. After the doctor yelled at me. I just said ok. I want this to be a learning experience for me so that is while I'm asking you all for your opinion. Thanks.

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Specializes in LTC.

sorry for any spelling errors. :)

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

Yelling is not OK. I personally don't give much of a s*** how a doctor speaks to me and I don't feel remotely guilty about calling them at 3am either, but I'm not Mr. Sensitive. You should report the incident to HR. You're are right about privacy by the way. Maybe you should have left your phone number but the important thing is you notified the doctor. Their advanced degree means they are capable of tracking you down with orders.

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How would that be different from leaving the pts name with the service?

I would have left the unit, maybe not the name of the pt. Or the pts name, unit and just the basic...this is for a lab result and not give any info on the lab.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.
Yelling is not OK. I personally don't give much of a s*** how a doctor speaks to me and I don't feel remotely guilty about calling them at 3am either, but I'm not Mr. Sensitive. You should report the incident to HR. You're are right about privacy by the way. Maybe you should have left your phone number but the important thing is you notified the doctor. Their advanced degree means they are capable of tracking you down with orders.

:lol2: report the incident to HR????????? Most LTCs don't have HR departments and if they do, they are not involved with the docs. The guy is obviously a jerk. I'd let your DNS know and either have her speak to him or get your medical director to speak to him.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

While you should of course report the doc for attitude, I can somewhat understand the frustration.

I think that you can and should give the patient's name when consulting the MD. HIPAA is all about need to know. The MD definitely has a need to know. It's possible that he wanted to contemplate the question/research the issue from the patient's history before returning your call but couldn't do so because he had no patient name.

I can understand his aggravation but not his method of conveying it.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Its NOT HIPAA to provide a physician or provider that you call the info they need!

When you call a provider's cell phone, they have the right to know the pts name, unit, room number.

Please don't make their job any harder.

That said, he should not have yelled at you and I would never tolerate that. However, as a mid-level I would be ticked if someone didn't provide me with the name of the pt/unit/room number, hospital, etc....

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Specializes in ICU.

I can see both sides of this. Unless the Dr. identifies himself in the VM message, I too, do not feel comfortable leaving protected information on a VM. How do you know for sure, otherwise, that you don't have a wrong number?

OTOH, if I am sure that I am reaching the right number, I will leave more detail.

JMO/practice.

:paw:

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

What I appreciate is that if someone doesn't want to leave me a message with the pts name, just page me, or call me thru the service that all the hospitals have. I do take calls from NH too for my pts and I've never had anyone not leave me the pts name.

HIPAA is to stop the dissemination of info to people that don't have the need to know. On the other hand, most physicians and providers that I'm familiar with have a very standard VM: Hi, you've reached traumarus, one of the mid-levels with XYZ practice. Please leave your name, phone number and concern and I will get back with you. Thanks.

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Specializes in ICU.

HIPAA is to stop the dissemination of info to people that don't have the need to know. On the other hand, most physicians and providers that I'm familiar with have a very standard VM: Hi, you've reached traumarus, one of the mid-levels with XYZ practice. Please leave your name, phone number and concern and I will get back with you. Thanks.

In this case, I would leave a detailed message. We have at least 3 docs, though, that just have the generic Verizon greeting.

:paw:

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Specializes in NICU, ER, OR.

hes right. why bother leaving a message with no patient info? its NOT a hippa violation, this is the patients physician. whether he yelled or not is another issue...but really, there is no hippa violation there... if anything you delayed treatment by not giving all the info so he could call you back with orders....

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

Delay of treatment? That's harsh. From what I gathered from the post, the doc DID call back...he was just plain rude when he did.

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